Egypt

Egypt
is situated in the northeast corner of Africa. The fertile Nile
valley bisects its arid western desert and its semi-arid western
desert. Its wealth of antiquities draws tourists from all over
the world. With ancient civilisations to ponder upon, pyramids,
Nile cruises, and some of the world's best scuba diving at the
coral reefs near Hurghada on the Red Sea, there's something
for most people.

Attacks by Islamic fundamentalists against Western tourists
has not exactly improved the tourist trade - but the unique
appeals of Egypt keeps them coming! One of the biggest surprises
for many tourists is the close proximity of the capital, Cairo,
to the pyramids and Sphinx.

Most of Egypt lies within the hot desert zone - although temperatures
drop sharply at night. Winter months are cooler. In the spring
the khamsin wind blows relentlessly from the Sahara, often bringing
with it heat, dust and sandstorms.

We nudged into the Suez Canal at Port Said. Then we
were off in another bunch of coaches (buses), this time each of us
clutching a cardboard lunch-box containing chicken salad. This was
so that we would not have to tackle getting food in Egypt or escaping
our guides. (I will explain shortly!)

Bare-footed
children scampered around the poor homesteads but, in a few
places, we did actually spot a television screen blinking
through the openings that served as windows.

We were duly warned about bartering. Everyone was taught
how the price asked by street traders was always two or three times
what they expected to take, so we were warned to seriously barter.
And to inspect. Our friend Antonio, a delightful little Italian,
really took this to heart. The moment we stepped off the ship to walk
a chain of narrow, floating walkways, we were assailed by the traders
with their wares. Mostly they all sell the same things, and it is
interesting to see how the starting prices vary from one to the next.
Antonio went straight for the kill. He fancied a bag with nice Egyptian
markings on the side which the guy was asking 12 Cyprus pounds for,
He got him down to six and was triumphant with this trophy when we
finally all made it to a coach. It was only later in the day when
he found that the going price for these bags was 2 pounds that he
really learned the bartering lesson.

The Egyptians have a good way of ensuring that large
flocks of tourists pass quickly and efficiently through their country
in perfect safety: they give them an armed guard and keep them surrounded!
Sanitized also! Now it was hot in Egypt and, guess what: it didn't
rain! A couple of dozen coaches set out from the dockyard with
a police escort in front and at the rear, with air-conditioning throbbing
to keep us at a reasonable temperature. We drove through the tall
apartment blocks of Port Said and could have been in any graffiti-ridden
city in the world - for a while, at least.

Once we left the city things were different. We followed
the virtually empty and virtually straight highway that stretched
for miles and miles to Cairo. On either side the fields were not much
more than damp paddy fields with primitive accommodation. This 'improved',
if that is the word, to become stark, often windowless buildings that
were the homes of people on dryer land further inland; although it
was clear that they offered little more than shelter from the strong
sun. Alcohol is, of course, not on offer to the natives of Egypt and
so the likes of Coca-Cola® have really made a killing
here. Every mile or so was a stark café with Coke signs; these
were clearly the local watering-holes, and they must boost Coca-Cola®
profits considerably.

Bare-footed children scampered around the poor homesteads
but, in a few places, we did actually spot a television screen blinking
through the glass-less openings that served as windows. What an ethereal
view of life this must give peoples such as these, living in abject
poverty.

Our courier, a petite Egyptian girl, explained much
about the Egyptian culture. In fact, for some, she over-explained
to a huge extent, although I must admit that I found it very educational.
She explained how close-knit the families are, how everyone knows
everyone-else's business, and that although she lived in a very busy
part of Cairo, if she were to go out with a strange man, say for a
drink in a café, news of it would likely reach her father before
she even got home! Similarly, if we wanted to find her house and had
nothing but her name, simply by asking anyone in the street in the
vicinity of her home would provide us with ample directions.

This entertainment did not even abate when the air-conditioning
ceased to throb. While she talked, the driver stopped the coach to
try to get it to work again. The police escort, of course, chose to
continue with the other couple of dozen coaches and abandon us. We
wondered how necessary this guard was when we chugged off again, the
driver having assured us that another coach would be available for
us to transfer to a bit further on.

Sure enough there was a standby-coach - quite impressive
out there in the middle of nowhere - and clutching our cardboard lunch-boxes
and early purchases, we transferred to a coach with air conditioning
that did work. At this point many of us thought it perhaps wise to
eat our lunches before they went off in the heat; the chicken-salad
lunch was not too easy to eat on the bumping coach, but we did the
best we could, with the strawless-drinks offering the greatest challenge.

Cairo and Giza

The approach through Cairo was something else, and included
crossing the river Nile. On the outskirts of the city the road passes
directly through the centre of an enormous cemetery, complete with
all kinds of fantastic and weird structures, many of which were far
from perpendicular. Some looked like model palaces! Our courier explained
that the Egyptian believed they should build accommodation befitting
the status of their dead, hence these amazing structures.

Entering the city proper, there was an incongruous mixture
of buildings and building quality, from some quite respectable blocks
to other blocks practically crumbling to pieces. Around these tower
block bases were playing children, chickens and bent cars. Our ever-informative
courier informed us that the reason why some buildings were in such
a terrible state was that there were regulations preventing the owners
putting up rents, so they figured the best way was to let them fall
down, thereby get rid of their tenants, and then start over.

The most amazing aspect of Cairo was how it teemed with
life - and traffic! Right alongside the road the men would
set down their prayer-mats to reserve a place for the next prayer
session - rather like Germans with their towels around the pool -
and right alongside the traffic bore relentlessly onwards. (Did the
traffic fumes heighten their spiritual awareness, I wonder?) Only
in a place such as this could you see a man carrying an enormous gas
cylinder in one hand as he weaved in an out of the busy traffic riding
a bicycle! Only here, where destiny is so pre-ordained, could
you see dark-robed women walking across the road right through closely-knit
traffic moving at around 30 mph as if it just didn't exist or present
any hazard. Only here could a coach driver calmly accept the miracle
that he was not constantly mowing people down. Such a pity there wasn't
time for a stroll in Cairo, to soak up some of this tremendous atmosphere,
but time was pressing and the nearby Pyramids were calling.

It
seems so strange that the Pyramids of Giza are so near to Cairo. Until
you've been there you imagine they are located somewhere deep in the
desert, miles from anywhere. Nor do you imagine them surrounded by
tour coaches! Yet this is only because all who photograph them keep
up this mystique by getting their camera-angles just right. Here's
what I mean. My picture of the left shows a pyramid with the coaches.
The pyramid on the right shows a more appealing and traditional camera
angle!

Here, in the shadow of the Pyramids of Giza and the
Sphinx, camel rides are on offer and young lads vie for your attention
to sell souvenirs, chiefly miniature pyramids and the book called
All of Egypt, which is really quite a good buy. I don't remember
what I paid for one of these books in the end, but I do remember that
I halved what I first was asked, offered that to the second seller
who walked off in disgust, and bought it from about the fourth after
trying a lower price yet again. I felt a heel for beating them down
for such a good book, but what else do you do in such a volatile market?

As I mentioned, if you wish you can take a camel ride
here, a kind of romantic thing to do in this setting, but be warned.
Agree a price before you climb aboard. Apparently a few tourists have
been hi-jacked and taken out into the desert until they agreed to
pay a high price to get down! So be camel-wise!

Now
a bit of boggling history about the pyramids at Giza, namely Cheops,
Chephren and Micerinus. According to the Greek Herodotus, based on
testimony of various people who had lived in Egypt, Cheops left behind
him a colossal piece of work: his pyramid. Cheops compelled his subjects
to labour for him. (What's the point of being a ruler otherwise?)
Some were forced to drag blocks of stone from the quarries in the
Arabian hills to the river Nile, where they were ferried across and
taken over by others who hauled them to the Libyan hills. This work
went on in three-monthly shifts, 100,000 men in each shift!
It took 10 years just to build the track along which the blocks were
hauled. The pyramid itself was constructed of polished stone blocks
decorated with carvings of animals. The block-tier structure enabled
each stone to be lifted, tier by tier, using short timber cranes.
Then the pyramids were finished off from the top down, to achieve
a smooth surface. Today only the very tops still resemble that surface
and the lower tiers reveal the large stone blocks. Let me just stand
on one so you can get the scale! (That's me holding a rock on the
first tier.)

Then
there is the Sphinx, just a stone block's throw away from the Pyramid
of Cheops. Fascinating in its own right, and with many ancient and
modern theories about it, which space does not allow me to go into,
although it is all fascinating stuff: like the evidence that all these
edifices are much older than the Egyptians would have us believe.
Look back at the pyramid behind the Sphinx in this picture and you
can clearly see how the upper part is much smoother than the lower
tiers.

Then on to the huge Egyptian Museum in Cairo, comprising
two floors and 100 exhibition rooms. (A couple of weeks before we
visited Jerusalem there was a bomb in a café there. Then a
coach was fire-bombed in this Egyptian Museum car-park the week after
we were there. This made us glad we chose the rainy-season for our
vacation instead of the bombing-season.) It is here you can find the
Treasures of Tutankhamon, including the fold coffin and famous mask.
Our little courier girl made valiant attempts to explain things within
this museum but, it has to be said, everything is total chaos inside,
with countless tour guides all shouting their heads off to be heard
in the terrible acoustics. With bustling flocks of tourists of all
nationalities attempting to see and hear all at once, you can imagine
the results. Although I was pleased to have seen these treasures of
antiquity, I would much have preferred the option to have stayed longer
at Giza. There was insufficient time to go into the Pyramid of Cheops
and, given the option, I would have taken this in place of seeing
the Sphinx and the museum. Ho-hum!

Then the return trip through Cairo and back to Port
Said. (By the way, we never did catch up with our police escort.)
Some of the apartment blocks in Cairo looked quite respectable - many
didn't, of course - and it was in the penthouses of some of the better
ones that some of the really rich people live. They are so rich that
they even have elevators to take their cars up to their apartment
level for safety (and maybe to wash off the sand). Bet you couldn't
guess how many of these got so rich? What their profession
is? (No sir, you're wrong!) They are - get this - belly-dancers!
Because such frivolous activities are beyond the pale in Egypt, and
no self-respecting girl would gyrate her body for the entertainment
of anyone other than her husband, these girls are paid fantastic sums
of money. So, girls, if you want to get slim and rich, here's an idea
for you!

On the way back the coach stopped at a check-point just
before entering Port Said, and a group of smiling young boys came
to the coach for what must have been a ritual hand-out of our cardboard
lunch-boxes. Those scraps that we didn't want to consume would find
eager mouths among these poor folks who, I reckon, would be relatively
immune from food-poisoning. Pity we didn't know about this for we
might then have saved considerably more. I was never to sure about
eating that chicken after the morning's heat in the coach! Then, after
a brief walk-about in Port Said, with constant bickering/bartering
for the likes of leather wallets with bottomless pockets - what-you-think-you-see
is not always what-you-get - it was walking the plank onto our fabulous
cruise ship and the final queue for dinner and pictures. Did I mention
that the ship's camera crew even sprang up at the Sphinx to take our
pictures? (By the way. If you do this cruise, get to the meals as
early as possible. Pray to be on the first of the two shifts.
This gets you off to a better start all round.)

Overall verdict? If you go to Cyprus, one of these trips
is quite an experience. It was well worth it even if the 'cruise ship'
was not all we had hoped for. (If you get a better ship it might be
much better!) Clearly you must realize that such a trip is
only a taster: but it left a great taste, and great memories. However,
if you really want the time to properly explore the Holy Land or Egypt,
go for one of these alone and opt for quality time rather than quantity!
Do your Holy Land tour or Nile Cruise in style. Me? Well, my brief
is to get around and tell you all about it. Hope I am achieving this!

Some of the author's finest articles are brought together here. Age might now restrict her travels, but her memories of travel are a delight. Her wonderful descriptions evoke the spirit of so many places. For example, Delhi is: the capital of the losing streak, the metropolis of the crossed wire, the missing appointment, the puncture, the wrong number.

The Grave Concerns of Jennifer Lloyd

Ian Kingsley

A killer to unmask, a feisty young television reporter, and a high-risk strategy. These are the ingredients of a mystery thriller with the character depth of contemporary fiction."Exceptionally entertaining." -BookViral."A powerful compelling read that's hard to put down." -Midwest Book Review.

Sandman

Ian Kingsley

A gripping psychological thriller with characters that reach out and grab you. Sandman touches our primary emotions: jealousy, love, fear, hatred, and grief. The dialogue is authentic, and, along with the scene-painting narrative, youíll feel like youíre on the beach witnessing the unfolding action.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

Mark Haddon

A murder mystery - told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole! 15-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted but socially hopeless, taking everything at face value. He resolves to discover who has murdered Wellington the dog.